Making a Tiny Sq Box

#1 Making a Tiny Sq Box
I recently started using some Brazilian Satinwood that has perfect satinwood markings on the surface of the wood, so I thought I had to make several tiny boxes with some of it. All of my boxes are put together basically the same. The larger boxes I do lay out the pieces on the top out to the last row that goes over the edge. On the larger boxes I then measure out and cut it to shape then, they are not always the same.

On this box I wanted the same coloring as on my other Sri Lanka Satinwood box, the only difference is that I’ll start this one off with Wenge in the center. I would then use Pink Ivory, Black Palm (cut on an angle to give the dots of the end grain an elongated look to make it more interesting), Purpleheart and then Satinwood. I will use the Aunt Sukeys Choice quilt pattern on the top. It will have a mixture of half size pieces on the top and full size pieces on the sides. This first picture shows the different woods in the different size of strips that I will be using, along with the jig I use to cut the full size triangle. I have 3 other jigs I will use to cut the other 3 type of pieces on the box. (You can find more on the jigs and cutting my pieces on my “How I Make a Lazy Susan” set (or Blog))

#3 Making a Tiny Sq Box
Knowing the exact size the design will end up I have the base pieces of the box already cut out, four sides and the top and bottom. Before I start gluing the sides of the base onto the top or bottom I make a mark on what will be the front or the back of the top and the bottom and put a number also on what will be the inside. This way I will know what top will go with which bottom when I cut them apart. With the larger boxes they will even be a little different shape because the pieces will go on a little different on each box so on the bigger boxes I cut the side pieces after I know what shape the box will end up. To look at the larger boxes they look the same but they are a little different. The top of one will not fit the bottom of another.

#4 Making a Tiny Sq Box
I use hot glue to glue the box togather as well as glueing the diamonds and triangles on to the base. I use “Super Amber” Hot glue sticks from Supergrit (or Red Hill Corporation) at;
www.supergrit.com/products/products_glue-hotmelt.asp
It has worked very well for my as I need a glue that sets up fast and holds.

#6 Making a Tiny Sq Box
I use the long side pieces as the front and back of the box, and the short pieces as the ends or sides of the box. The over-lay also adds strength to the box as you can see in picture #32 the over-lay crosses the side joint and then the front and back over-lay crosses the side over-lay. This all adds strength to the simple butt joints that I use.

#9 Making a Tiny Sq Box
Next I glue the diamonds on making sure the grain of the wood is going the way I want it to. I will use the grain of the wood to always make a uniform pattern on the box. To me the grain always has a right and wrong way to lay on each piece.

#10 Making a Tiny Sq Box
In gluing the pieces to the sides or ends of the box, they will hang over front and back. When I glue the pieces onto the front and back, they will go over the edges of the pieces on the ends and the pieces on the top will overhang on all sides.

#18 Making a Tiny Sq Box
If I were to continue to use the full size pieces that I used on the sides, I would only have room for 8 diamonds and 12 triangles. Not enough room for the design that I want on the top. So I will use half size pieces and have 16 diamonds and 24 triangles to make my “Aunt Sukeys Choice” quilt pattern. After laying the pieces out I glue on the first two as a unit.

#27 Making a Tiny Sq Box
After it is sanded even and scribbled all over it with a pencil, I do this because I am going to mix fine sawdust and glue together and force it down into the cracks you can see in the close up if you look good at it. Then when I final sand the box so it is real smooth I will be sure and get below the glue by sanding off the pencil marks. Otherwise the glue will show up when you put the finish on, and you will have a real problem then. (I used to use the white glue but then in humid weather the glue joint would rise. I now use powdered resin, mix it with water, then that with the saw dust. It will stay smooth then and you won’t be having the glue joint rising on you.) (I have seen rolling pins from glued up wood that were smooth but after going through some damp weather you could feel every glue joint on the thing.)

#29 Making a Tiny Sq Box
These are the two sanders I use. I use the random orbit sander for the flat parts and the other to round all of the corners. A round corner is much more pleasing to feel than a square corner (that’s why GOD made woman round) and a round corner is much harder to damage than a square corner.

#35 Making a Tiny Sq Box
I use a hollow ground plywood blade to first cut on the inside of the lines then sliding the box side to side a little at a time, I take out the rest, leaving a place for the hinge.

#38 Making a Tiny Sq Box
I use a tiny bit of glue on some little sticks I have to glue onto the hinge to hold it open like it needs to be, then using a little glue on the lid where the hinge will go I put the lid on the box where it needs to be and let the glue cool. I then dig the bead of glue out of the screw hole and put the screws in and the lid is in place where it should be.

#41 Making a Tiny Sq Box
Before putting any finish on I write this on the bottom, always listing the wood from the center out. I always let them know where I am from. It helps to be from a small town but they can still find you if they have a town.

#42 Making a Tiny Sq Box
I use varnish as my finish, I thin it about 20% and rub it in by hand. I will put a coat on each of these boxes and then go back to the first one and start rubbing it until it is kind of tacky, set it down and go to the next.

#44 Making a Tiny Sq Box
The next step is to take black velveteen and on all of the edges that will show I run a bead of glue along it and fold over about 1/8” as you see here. The long pieces will go around the sides of the box.

#46 Making a Tiny Sq Box
This picture shows all 5 pieces before I glue them into the box. The 5th pieces will cover the hinge when the lid is up, it will also keep the lid from falling back. It acts like a stop.

Brazilian Satinwood is a naturally yellow wood that comes from South America. The Satinwood, when it is cut right, you can see the light move in the grain pattern as you move the box side to side just as on satin fabric. There are no stains on any of the wood that you see on this box. GOD did not limit himself to the brown tones when he made wood.

The type of wood is listed on the bottom of the box from the center out. On this box the wood is “Wenge” from West Africa, “Pink Ivory” from South Africa (a wood that is sacred to the Zulu tribe). “Black Palm” from Indonesia. (I cut this on an angle to give the black dots a different look) “Purpleheart” from Central or South America is a very bright purple wood. Then “Satinwood” from Brazil is used on the main part of the box. The Brazilian Satinwood has a more bright yellow color to it than the golden color that the satinwood from Sri Lanka has.